Politics

The History Behind The Senate Rule Mitch McConnell Used To Silence Liz Warren

It's a bad rule.

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Elizabeth Warren (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

Elizabeth Warren (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

With words that launched a thousand memes, during yesterday’s Senate debate on the confirmation of Jeff Sessions, Mitch McConnell silenced Elizabeth Warren’s reading of a letter authored by Coretta Scott King in 1986 criticizing Jeff Sessions’s record on civil rights. He did so using a Senate rule from 1902 that prohibits Senators from insulting one another. The rule was enacted after a fight broke out on the Senate floor between two colleagues from the same state. Which state did those Senators represent?

Hint: One of the senators was so well known for his pro-lynching stance he went by the nickname “Pitchfork.”

See the answer on the next page.

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